Something Worth Protecting
by land law is for losers
Summary: One-shots from a story set in a world where after Madara kills Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura decide to travel back in time to right the wrongs of the past. In an alternate universe created by their actions, Uchiha Madara finds solace with his nurturing pink-haired wife and her obnoxious best friend. Mostly a story about redemption.


Summary: After Madara kills Sasuke, Naruto and Sakura decide to travel back in time to right the wrongs of the past. In an alternate universe created by their actions, Uchiha Madara finds solace with his nurturing pink-haired wife and her obnoxious best friend.

Part 1: In which Sakura forces Madara to have a chat with Naruto.

His wife was gone and only her annoying blond friend remained, leaning back in his chair with his feet kicked up on the rickety motel table, slurping his beef ramen loudly. Madara's fingers tapped a silent rhythm on the same table as he eyed Naruto with thinly-veiled disgust.

"That's not real ramen," Madara grouched, pulling his hand away from the table as he crossed his arms and scowled.

Naruto paused, a few wet noodles hanging out of his mouth, before slowly pulling away his chopsticks from his face. He stretched out the arm holding the ramen cup towards Madara. "Want some?"

"No," Madara nearly hissed, turning his head the opposite way. "I'd rather die."

"Why didn't you then?" Naruto asked, returning to his cup. "Kami knows the world would have been better for it."

Madara scoffed. "What, you won't preach about _my_ right to a second chance?"

Naruto shrugged. "I usually don't count how many chances I give people until they kill my best friend, in which case I destroy them."

The Uchiha's head turned right back around to face Naruto, lips stretched into a savage smirk. "Shall we go, then? There's a remarkable lack of destruction going on, and I did, after all, kill your so-called friend."

"Tempting," Naruto replied, "but no deal. Sakura-chan likes you for some reason, you're not the version who killed Sasuke-teme, and, besides, I'm still hungry."

With another scoff, Madara pushed his chair back and stood, walking towards the window before stopping and eyeing the stormy skies with a grimace. He itched for a fight, and yet Sakura had foreseen this and took away all his weapons before disappearing on her shopping trip. Not that he needed physical weapons to fight, not at all. Naruto was just good enough that having the added security of his gunbai would have been nice.

"I have been tasked with making friends… with you," Madara spoke suddenly, sullenly. "I do not see that happening anytime soon."

This time, Naruto finished slurping before replying. "Why not?"

"I killed your friend," Madara reminded Naruto, "and I want to reshape the shinobi world as we know it. It seems that these two factors put us at odds."

Naruto shrugged. "You didn't, and you won't. Besides, Sakura-chan's not all that up for the world domination thing either so it's either her or your crazy plans."

"She'll come around," Madara said stiffly.

"Nah pal, she won't," Naruto said, aiming the empty cup towards the trash can at the other end of the room. "She might hesitate but she'll eventually choose us."

"She is _my_ wife."

"She is _my_ sister," Naruto reminded him, "or as good as. You'll forever be Uchiha Madara, the crazy guy with delusions of grandeur."

Madara snarled and quickly advanced on Naruto, who kept his seat at the table and was eyeing him patiently. "I would do this, for her! For her, and for _my_ brother!"

"Your brother is dead," Naruto reminded him quickly. "Dead in a battle which could have been avoided had you not been stubborn and accepted Hashirama Senju's offer early on!"

Madara flinched but his rage was rising. The one eye he had left turned red with the Sharingan as long fingers wrapped around the Uzumaki's throat. "How dare you," he whispered, blood burning in anger.

"I dare," Naruto challenged, "because someone has to, or else you'll go down the same shitty path you went down before and you'll ruin things for everyone again. Except this time, you'll break Sakura-chan's heart too!"

Madara's fingers loosened around Naruto's throat before he snarled and pushed the blond man into the wall. He turned around, fingers shaking, and ran them through his hair.

"Listen. I don't like you, Uchiha, I'll be honest," Naruto spoke from behind, "but I can see some redeeming qualities about you. And I trust Sakura-chan's instincts. And I do get your pain. But this insanity must stop at one point."

"You have no right," Madara said, leaning heavily on the door. "There is nothing – no one – left for me. This is my path, and the world will be a better place for it."

Naruto shrugged. "We showed you your future. You may choose to do what you wish with that information but I know Sakura hopes you'll make the right choice. Hell, so do I. Not to mention, you're hardly alone. Sakura-chan loves you so much I can literally feel it pouring out of her whenever she looks at you."

Madara opened his eyes and looked at the blond menace. "I must make the world a better place."

Naruto grinned. "You already have. Don't you see? Konoha stands tall, the greatest of the Shinobi villages, a sanctuary for thousands of people from all walks of life. You have created the most important thing anyone could ever have – a framework to work with."

Madara sighed and returned to his chair. Dark eyes stared at his interlocked hands, barely noticing as Naruto took his seat by his left again.

"Your… friend. Uchiha Sasuke, yes?"

Naruto flinched a bit, but nodded. "Yeah."

"Was he truly your friend?"

Naruto laughed. "That's a complicated question, but yes. Yes, he was, even if he didn't want to be. Regardless of how much crap he pulled, I never lost hope that he'd come back to us."

Madara nodded, deep in thought, as he lifted his gaze and looked at a dirty patch on the wallpaper. Naruto stood up again and began boiling some more water. "Which one do you think, beef again or pork this time?" he asked, eyeing two different ramen cups.

"Pork is always better," Madara replied distantly, leaning back into his chair. His right hand rose to the necklace around his throat, callused fingers trailing down the metal until they reached the wedding ring which was hanging by the chain.

"Ya know," Naruto began, pouring the boiling water over his noodles, "you've got a friend like that too. If you'd just wake up and see it," he murmured as if for his deceased friend rather than for Madara. The Uchiha nodded slowly, unseen by Naruto.

"And yet I would always choose Sakura over Hashirama," Madara replied just as quietly.

"I think Sakura-chan would be happy if you decided to mend your bridges," Naruto said, shrugging. "She'd have less reason to worry about you."

Madara snorted. "I am capable of taking care of myself."

"Yeah, but that's not what she worries about," Naruto said absent mindedly, folding the aluminium packaging over the rims of the cup. When it became clear that the blond had no intentions of continuing, Madara sighed.

"What will it take to gain your friendship?" Madara asked through gritted teeth. Naruto's head snapped up in surprise, jaw dropping as he spied the look of utter pain on the Uchiha's face.

"For real? Just make her happy," Naruto said, "and if you do, then I'll always have your back. If she doesn't beat me to it."

Madara nodded brusquely. The sound of his wife's footsteps came closer to the door and when he heard her fumbling around her pockets for keys he stood up and opened the door to his soaked and angry-looking spouse.

"Thanks," she said, storming inside.

"Is it raining?" Naruto asked, craning his neck to take a look out the window. Sakura paused and gave Naruto a look before turning around to her husband and smiling.

"Everything alright?"

The question was loaded with dozens of unspoken ones, and even Naruto seemed keen to hear the answer. Madara's eyes remained firmly locked with Sakura's, however, as he helped her take off her drenched scarf.

"Not yet," he murmured, "but it will be."


End file.
